Innocent Beginnings
by Gryphex
Summary: Prequel to 'A Longlost Friendship'. Other then that, it's when Toshiro and Sasuke first meet.


A/N: Just for those who don't know already, this little story is the prequel to my other story, A Longlost Friendship. To the rest of you, enjoy.

Early Beginnings

A young girl was sitting by herself at a window and she was watching her younger sister with boredom clear in her green eyes. She was almost five, her sister, three, and her older sister was nine.

She watched her mother move through the house, doing little chores here and there, and her father was working and he wouldn't be back until late. She didn't realize that she was continuously drumming her fingers on the windowsill but her mother did, and it was driving her up the wall.

"Toshiro," her mother said softly with a smile to hide her frustration. "Why don't you go find your sister and play with her, alright?"

She bolted upright with a smile and her eyes lit up. "Okay!" she said happily and she ran to her sister's room and pushed open the door.

"Izunami! Mother said that we could…" Toshiro stopped in mid-sentence as she soon realized that her sister wasn't there. The smile faded from her face and she turned around just in time to see Izunami attempting to sneak out the front door without being seen by her younger sister.

Toshiro went running at her sister and latched onto her in an attempt to stop her from leaving. "Izunami! Don't leave! I want to go too!"

Izunami rolled her eyes and she tried to pry her sister off of her leg. "Let go of me!" Toshiro was persistent and she didn't loosen her grip. Unintentionally she knocked her sister over and Izunami landed on the ground with a thud.

"Mother!" she complained in a loud voice and she sat up and pushed Toshiro away. Both girls looked up as their mother walked in and crossed her arms over her chest. "She won't let me leave," she whined.

Toshiro sat up cross-legged and crossed her arms too. "Izunami promised that she'd take me training today," she pouted with an angry look on her young face.

Izunami opened her mouth to protest but she closed it suddenly and looked at her mother with a pleading expression but it didn't help.

"You promised?" her mother asked in an interested tone. She picked Toshiro up off the ground and put her on her feet. Izunami stood also as their mother looked at the younger of the sisters and said, "Have fun, Toshiro."

Toshiro was ecstatic and Izunami had a look of disbelief on her face. "Arigato gozimasu Mother! See you later! Come on Izunami!" she said as she turned to her sister and nearly dragged her out of the house. Izunami allowed herself to be pulled out the front door and onto the sidewalk.

"Toshiro, slow down. You're going to run me into somebody." Izunami was complaining as her younger sister hauled her through various parts of Konoha.

"But if I don't pull you around then you won't move," she pointed out as she looked about with wide eyes that were soaking in every detail as she ran through the street.

Izunami stayed quiet and smirked at the truth of her younger sister's words and argued, "But can't we do this another time, please? I've got to meet up with someone."

Toshiro and crossed her arms and whined, "But you promised! You can meet with them anytime! Stay with me, please!"

Izunami's tolerance level was dropping rapidly again and she shook her head. "What's this one time? We'll have any other day to train-"

"-no! You might get mad at me one day and then you won't want to be with me anymore. I might make you so mad that… that you'd hate me and not want to see me ever again." Toshiro's green eyes looked up as tears slowly started welling in the corners of them and Izunami's frustration vanished.

"What? No… I…" Izunami stopped and she came down on one of her knees and reached out to her little sister. "Come here." Toshiro walked closer to Izunami and stood there as her older sister hugged her reassuringly. "Don't ever say that. We'll always be just like this. Nothing could separate us as sisters and make us hate each other. Nothing could."

Toshiro pulled away a little and wiped one of her tears with the back of her hand. "How can you be so sure? What if you're wrong? Maybe we won't be like this when we're older."

Izunami sighed and shook her head and said with a small smile, "All evidence to the contrary. I know I'm not wrong. We're sisters; we could never hate each other that much. You may drive me insane plenty, but you're my sister, and I'll love you no matter how crazy you get."

A tiny smile spread itself across Toshiro's face and she and asked in a quiet voice, "You promise? No matter _what_ I do?" she added as her smile transformed into a mischievous smirk.

Izunami caught the look in her eyes but her smile widened and she nodded. "Well, to an extent. But, yes. _**I promise**_. Alright, now that's settled, let's go train."

Toshiro nearly jumped for joy and started running toward the village gates and Izunami took off after her younger sister.

They soon reached one of the training grounds and Toshiro looked around at all the targets. She plopped down on a log and watched as her older sister dropped a small pack on the ground and pulled out a few kunai.

Just as she was about to launch one at a target she felt Toshiro tug on her sleeve and hold her hand out patiently for one of the kunai. "Please? Can I try too?" she asked with a temporarily innocent smile.

Izunami hesitantly handed her a kunai but gently grabbed her wrist soon after. "Hold on there a second. If you hold it like that and try to throw it you might hurt yourself or me. Look, you should hold it like this," she said as she demonstrated the safest way to grasp the weapon.

"Oh, okay!" Toshiro changed her hold a little and looked back up at her sister for her consent.

"Exactly, like that. Now, when you're going to throw the kunai, I try to almost mentally lock on to my target." Izunami had to smile at Toshiro's confused expression and she shook her head. "Let me try to explain it differently. Well, what you want to do is… uh…"

Toshiro was listening to her every word and turned around as a voice somewhere behind her said, "Just focus all your attention to the object and put your trust into your kunai."

Izunami turned around too and smiled at who she saw leaning up against a tree. He was her age but just a little taller and he had the darkest hair that was drawn back into a short ponytail. "Hey, Itachi," Izunami greeted him warmly.

He smirked and nodded at her and he looked at Toshiro. "So, which sister is this?"

Izunami glanced down as her sister looked back up at her with a slightly puzzled look in her eyes. "This is my younger sister, Toshiro. Toshiro, this is Uchiha Itachi."

Toshiro looked back at him and she completely took him in, from his eyes to his shoes. She looked deep into his eyes and they glued there as a small shiver went down her spine. She found it odd that his eyes were completely black and she looked beyond his smirk. There was something else there underneath his smirking mask, and that something made her stomach turn over.

Toshiro returned the smile fully and bashfully muttered, "Hello…" and she unnoticeably moved closer to Izunami.

Izunami didn't notice and she looked back at Itachi. "So what are you doing here of all places? I promised Toshiro I'd train wither today, and I'd forgotten when I told you I'd meet you today. Sorry."

"Eh, don't worry about it." Itachi's smirk was replaced by an irritated expression as he grumbled, "I promised my brother the same."

A younger boy peeked his head around his older brother and looked from Izunami to Toshiro. Itachi walked over to Izunami and the younger boy followed. "This is my younger brother, Sasuke."

Sasuke hid from Izunami's view but he was in plain sight of Toshiro as the older siblings conversed with each other. She stared at him for a little while quietly until he turned a little and their gazes crossed. She forced a smile and waved at him and she shyly walked over to him.

"Um… hi. I'm Toshiro," she said in almost a whisper and she raised her gaze from the ground to rest on him. The smirk on her face widened to a grin and she interlaced her fingers behind her back.

He timidly stared back at her for a second or so and he looked down at the ground. "…hello…" He glanced up at her and after a second or so, he smiled back.

A/N: Aw, how cute, no? What can I say? I envisioned them as five-year-olds and look at what I managed to come up with! I love it. And the promise that Izunami made to Toshiro, it's pretty sad actually. I won't ruin it for those of you who haven't read _A Longlost Friendship_ yet, but trust me, it easily ties in and it gives it that much more emotional reaction. To everyone else who has read it, you can see how it fits in. I had to cram that promise in somewhere. I see now that in five minutes I made it fit.

Now, enough with my rambling. This story is closed…… or is it? Sequel anyone? ;) We'll see. I've got a couple ideas that could work. One is pretty sad, so it won't work out, another one jumps forward about 14 to 16 years after chapter 21, and the last one occurs just after chapter 21. Oh, wait! I forgot one. The most recent one taps into a few months after chapter 21, but our dear Toshiro finds out something that could just change her entire life, depending upon how she reacts. But, you'll just have to keep in touch with me to see.

Ideas, anyone? I'll still accept them. Oh, yeah, and just so the rest of you know, Kai Orihomunon has so graciously allowed me to make him a character for his story _New arrival, the Blood Wolf of The Mist._ I made up Gina, so if you want more of my handiwork, it's there if you want it. :) You're welcome, Kai. I bought you some publicity. Well, I've nothing more to do but beg for reviews, so, please review! Sorry, old habits and all.


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